One Betway Premiership match takes place on Thursday and it sees Orlando Pirates bid to close the gap to Sundowns at the top of the standings when they host Durban City.
Orlando Pirates
Pirates most recent Betway Premiership outing came on 1st September when they thrashed Kruger United 4-0 away from home. Since then they came through the first qualifying round for the CAF Champions League group stage with a 3-1 aggregate win over La Cure Waves of Mauritius with all the goals coming in the second leg in Orlando.
Back to the league and Pirates will kick off in second place and all 7 points behind Sundowns but iy should be noted they have 3 games in hand on Sundowns who have been busy on the domestic front whilst Pirates have been otherwise engaged. Pirates league record comprises of 4 wins and 1 draw and they have scored 12 goals and conceded just 1. They have also made it through to the final of the MTN8 where they will come up against Sundowns.
Durban City
Like Pirates Durban City have also been in CAF competition and they came through their Confederation Cup qualifier with Rukinzo of Burundi with a 3-1 aggregate win
Back to the Betway Premiership and Durban City are in mid table with a record of 1 win, 3 draws and 1 defeat. They have scored only 3 league goals this season and conceded just 2 and that tally is lowest for and against total goals in the top flight. City started with a 1-0 loss at Sekhukhune and since then they drew derby matches with Arrows (0-0) and Richards Bay (1-1) before their only win so far, 2-0 away to Kruger. More recently another home fixture against Stellenbosch on 1st September produced another 0-0 stalemate.
Recent Head To Head
These teams met in the MTN8 quarter finals in Orlando in August and a goal right at the end of extra time saw Pirates edge it 2-1 (1-1 after 90 mins).
Last season This fixture finished 0-0 and Pirates won the return away from home 2-0.
The Betting
At the time of writing Pirates are 7/20 to win the game with the draw at 2.85/1 and Durban City can be backed at around 9/1
A game of 3 goals or more is priced at around 11/10 and it’s 16/10 for both teams to score.
Note, odds are subject to change
The Verdict
Pirates have conceded just the 1 league goal and taking a look at City’s defensive record this could be tighter than the match result betting suggests.
I could be wide of the mark here as Pirates have generally been free scoring but I will settle on no more than 1 goal in the first half and likewise in the second.
Bets: Both halves under 1.5 total goals at 11/10 with Lucky Fish
Note, odds are subject to change